Community Barn Mural Raises Climate Consciousness
A Q&A with Winning Artist Rachael Dal Porto
by Kat Kerlin
A barn facing Road 102 between Davis and Woodland will soon carry a colorful message for climate action. Community members of all ages and experience levels are encouraged to come out Saturday, March 26, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., grab a paintbrush and become muralists for a day to help create it.
The event is the culmination of a mural design competition, the UC Davis Climate Raising Challenge, launched by the Institute of the Environment and the One Climate Initiative to inspire climate activism in the Sacramento Valley.
The winning painting, “Hungry for Connection,” was created by Rachael Dal Porto, a civil and environmental engineering Ph.D. student at UC Davis. The mural travels along the Sacramento Valley, weaving together imagery of climate-resilient crops, wildlife, floodplains and restored wetlands, and bridging connections among food, clean transportation, community resiliency and local action.
Rachel Dal Porto's winning design, "Hungry for Connection," to be painted on a barn March 26. Mural size is about 64 feet wide by 8 feet tall.
We talked with Dal Porto about public art, climate change, science and how all those things can intersect to become tools for climate action.